Sony P Series Ships With 1.3 GHz CPU in U.S., 1.6 GHz in UK

Last week in Las Vegas we happened upon (okay, so it was repeatedly in our faces every time we turned around during our Sony appointment) Sony’s P Series Lifestyle PC. While there wasn't much in the way of specs, we did have a couple of scraps of info on hand about the guts of this little machine. Now we know a little more, and we’re not exactly pleased.

During CES, we had heard that the P Series would pack a 1.6 GHz processor and we were pretty happy with that. We know some of you were crossing your fingers for something more powerful, but your prayers have gone unanswered; but it looks like that’s the least of your worries if you're planning on purchasing one of these, depending on where you live.

Looking at the UK site, it seems British customers will be getting a 1.6 GHz Z530 Atom processor while the U.S. site just lists "Intel (1.3GHz)" under the specs. Not cool, Sony. Why can’t we have the 1.6 GHz, too? Sadface.

As far as pricing is concerned, last week's $900 price tag is bang on the money. The P Series with a 60 GB HDD will ship for $899.99, with Vista Home Basic (don't shoot the messenger, and remember it's dual-boot to XMB). Models go up in price from there, with options for SSDs ranging from 64 GB to 128 GB and an upgrade to Vista Home Premium. All include the Atom 1.3 GHz processor. UK models range from £849 to £1368.99, all include the 1.6 GHz Z530 and are shipping mid-February.

Stop complaining about us in the UK gtting a slightly faster processor - we are paying almost twice as much for the privelage. At least we get something, normally we pay double for identical hardware....

£849 vs £610 for the US model - am I missing something, or did I just see a 39% increase in price? Sony, you make wonderful game consoles but I'm sorry to say this really isn't my cup of tea. I really don't see any reason for buying such weak hardware, not at these prices and certainly not on the basis of branding.